Knight Time At Exeter!

It was a good day for the stable yesterday with the success of Knight Of Noir in the second division of the National Hunt novices' hurdle at Exeter under champion jockey A P McCoy.  I say this through gritted teeth as I must confess, I backed our other runner in the race, Prideofthecastle who finished a close third at 3/1.  I do hate opposing McCoy, especially when he is on one of our own runners...will I ever learn?!  I was pleased for his owners Wayne and Sarah Clifford however - they put an awful lot into racing via sponsorship through their Bathwick Tyres brand.  Knight Of Noir won a shade cosily under a well judged ride from the champ and it would seem that they have a nice prospect on their hands here.

It was a good day for the stable yesterday with the success of Knight Of Noir (pictured right) in the second division of the National Hunt novices' hurdle at Exeter under champion jockey A P McCoy.  I say this through gritted teeth as I must confess, I backed our other runner in the race, Prideofthecastle who finished a close third at 3/1.  I do hate opposing McCoy, especially when he is on one of our own runners...will I ever learn?!  I was pleased for his owners Wayne and Sarah Clifford however - they put an awful lot into racing via sponsorship through their Bathwick Tyres brand.  Knight Of Noir won a shade cosily under a well judged ride from the champ and it would seem that they have a nice prospect on their hands here.

Meanwhile our other runners also performed with credit - Tullyesker Hill finished runner-up in the first division with Smiles For Miles in fourth, both indicating that there were races to be won with them, while Junior showed more spark than of late to finish a good third in the veterans' chase (conceding 15lbs to the winner).

*****

On the same card Richard Johnson rode his 100th winner of the season.  It was the 19th time he has achieved this feat and that is quite remarkable when you think about it...without McCoy we would be lauding Johnson as the finest jump jockey of all time - he must sometimes resent being around at the same time as AP?  I wonder if he will ever manage to win that much deserved jockeys' title?

*****

Not bad work if you can get it!  Yesterday Slovenian tennis player Polona Hecog earnt £16,500 for playing just six points in Melbourne.  She won a single point before retiring and pocketing a cheque for £16,500 - to me that sounds like a complete joke.  Having said all that, it was quite warm there yesterday.  Rory McIlroy's girlfriend Caroline Wozniaki put a bottle of water down on the court and it began to melt!  She was also showing off a new engagement ring with eight carats of diamonds in it...It's a wonder that ice didn't start to melt as well!

*****

Will wonders never cease?  The England mens' cricket team finally managed to record a victory down under.  Sadly it was only agains the President's XI, the visitors winning by 172 runs.

*****

I was thinking of ways to make the Premiership more competitive and thought that it would be a good idea to impose penalties on clubs that were spending too much money.  If the clubs were penalised a point for every £1 million they lost at the end of the season, the Premiership would no longer be about money, but about the best run club...I'm not sure many of the clubs at the top would subscribe to my point of view!